Executive Team

Ephraim Heller

Chief Executive Officer

Ephraim Heller is the Founding CEO of SynAgile. Ephraim was Founding CEO of AngioScore Inc., a balloon angioplasty company acquired by Spectranetics for over $230 million in 2014. Before that, he was Founding CEO and later VP of Marketing and VP of Business Development at TheraSense Inc., a maker of blood glucose monitoring systems for people with diabetes. TheraSense went public in 2001, sales grew to $270 million in 2003, and the company was acquired by Abbott for $1.2 billion in 2004. Ephraim holds over 100 issued US patents. He received a BA in Physics from Harvard and an MBA from Yale.

Adam Heller

Chief Scientific Officer

Adam Heller is SynAgile's Chief Scientific Officer and a professor of chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials science at the University of Texas at Austin. At GTE Research, Adam and his colleague Jim Auborn conceived and codeveloped the first commercialized lithium thionyl chloride battery, a product that has sold billions of units. At AT&T Bell Labs, Adam headed the department that developed manufacturing processes for high-density chip interconnections. He cofounded TheraSense with Ephraim and served as its CTO, leading development of a product that has again sold billions of units. He holds over 200 issued US patents. Adam received his doctorate from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is regarded as one of the top bioelectrochemists of the world. He received numerous prestigious awards, including the 2008 US National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the top technology honor of the United States.

Jennifer Harmon

Director, Clinical Affairs

Jennifer leads the development and implementation of SynAgile’s clinical trials including regulatory and trial oversight functions. Based in Singapore, Jennifer is also the key liaison for business operations in Asia.

From 2009-2017, Jennifer worked at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore, which opened in 2006. She was Associate Director at the Centre of Regulatory Excellence, which aimed to strengthen regulatory systems in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to that, she provided in-house clinical trials consultation for clinicians and research units across the SingHealth-Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre. She founded the AMRI Research Professionals organization, which has reached more than 400 research staff.

From 2002-2009, Jennifer worked at the Moran Eye Center, University of Utah. Under the leadership of Dr Kang Zhang, she conducted clinical trials in genetics of eye diseases, and co-authored 11 papers.

Taung Lau

Director, Quality Assurance

Taung has over 20 years of experience as a individual contributor and technical leader in quality assurance and quality engineering. Most recently, Taung was Director of Quality Assurance for Ouroboros Medical, acquired by J&J, where he led efforts to obtain ISO certification, quality system and CE approval. Previously, Taung was Director of Quality for Biomerix Corporation, where he successfully managed quality systems including audits, document control, monitoring nonconformance and corrective actions, training, and management review. Taung received a BS in Integrative Biology from the University of California at Berkeley and a MS in Industrial Systems Engineering from San Jose State University.

Philip Plante

Vice President, Process Development

Phil has over 30 years experience working individually and on teams in developing medical products and processes. Phil scaled up commercial manufacturing of the original One Touch diabetes test strips for LifeScan, a variety of critical care products for Oximetrix (Abbott Critical Care Systems), a cholesterol diagnostic for ChemTrak, a variety of drug delivery & diagnostic products for Cygnus Therapeutic Systems, and the FreeStyle diabetes test strips for TheraSense (Abbott Diabetes Care), among other products both medical and non-medical. Phil has a BS in Chemical Engineering from MIT.

John Spiridigliozzi

Vice President, Device Development

John has over 20 years of experience and a proven track record of solving complex engineering problems for early stage and established medical device companies. John most recently served as Director of Engineering with NeoGraft Technologies, where he helped develop a novel system for the treatment of saphenous vein grafts for bypass surgery. Prior to that, John served as VP of Product Development with Sonitus Medical where he developed the first hearing assist device to transmit sound via the teeth. John holds over 40 issued US patents. John received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University